The court in Georgia partially granted the lawsuit of those injured during dispersal of a meeting of journalists

City court of Tbilisi partially granted the lawsuit of the persons injured during dispersal of an oppositional meeting of journalists and obliged the Ministry of Interior Affairs to undo harm to them.

It should be reminded that this July representatives of six mass media: "Netgazeta", "Guria News", "Batumelebi", "Chokhatauris Matsne", "Ahali Ambebi" and "Radio-center" submitted a lawsuit against the Ministry of Interior Affairs. According to the lawyers of media legal protection center with the "Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia", during dispersal of the protest action on May, 26, violence was used against the journalists: two of them were wounded with rubber bullets and one got poisoned with tear gas. Besides, representatives of riot squad took away and damaged the journalists' equipment in this way destroying the materials they had shot.

Judge Tea Tadashvili read out the operative part of the judgment. She completely granted the part of the lawsuit which concerned undoing the harm inflicted on the journalists' health. According to the judgment, the Ministry of Interior Affairs must pay to the representatives of mass media: 12 lari (about 7 dollars) to Konstantin Stalinsky, 30 lari (about 18 dollars) to Tamaz Kupreishvili, 17 lari and 50 tetri (about 10 dollars) to Nato Gogelia, "Georgia Online" reports.

The Ministry must also partially undo material damage, i.e. the cost of two video cameras: that of "Batumelebi" newspaper to a sum of 1 922 lari (1 159,65 dollars) and a flip camera of "Ahali Ambebi" to a sum of 304 lari (183,420 dollars).

The claim of "Radio Center Plus" of compensation of a cost of one more flip camera was dismissed. The demand of "Chokhatauris Matsne" of compensating a damage caused by a loss of a chip and a battery was also dismissed.

Natia Kapanadze, lawyer of NGO "Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia", is satisfied with the judgment. She emphasized that it was the first case in Georgia when the Ministry of Interior Affairs bore responsibility for the actions of its personnel against the journalists during dispersal of the action.

"They were adjudged to rather a small sum of compensation but the judgment is very significant of itself. It is an acknowledgement of the fact that journalists by their work help the community use its right of freedom of speech. It is also a recognition that no one has a right to put obstacles in their work", "Echo of the Caucasus" quotes Kapanadze.